GPSA 752 Clinical Case: Resistance, Transference and Countertransference Issues (3 Credits

Thursday, 4:50 – 7:10pm GPSA 752 Clinical Case Seminar: Resistance, Transference, and Countertransference Issues/Silver

Through readings and clinical case presentations, the students in this advanced clinical course will learn how to analyze the unique and diverse ways in which resistance, transference and countertransference responses are expressed during treatment. Transference and countertransference will be analyzed in both its historical and present contexts including the unconscious forces motivating the responses, the defenses underlying their operation and their impact on the therapeutic process. Students will explore the verbal and non-verbal expression of transference, especially in its pre-verbal form and countertransference along with the resistances that interfere with “knowing” and awareness. The clinical uses of following the contact, joining, mirroring and psychological reflection will be studied as key elements in the development of the positive and negative narcissistic transference. Ethical practice considerations of the therapist’s subjective and objective countertransference (& countertransference resistance) will also be highlighted through the readings and analysis of case presentation material.